Less than a week to go until I get to see one of my most anticipated movies this year. Ever since Avatar Day back in August, I’ve been following all the buzz surrounding the James Cameron’s most ambitious project to date. Not all of it has been positive of course, lots of people have actually slammed the trailers and even dubbed it ‘Dances with Wolves with blue people.’ Cameron himself was tounge-in-cheek in his response about why the Na’vi people are blue: “… we were down to blue and green basically — and green had been taken by all those Martian movies with the little green men… So, we have big blue women, not little green men.” But one thing for sure, like the Rotten Tomatoes article said, no one can deny that the uber director sure knows how to make an entrance. The site begs the question if Avatar will live up to its hype, and ultimately make up for the reportedly $300+ million production budget, PLUS the $150 million more to market it.

So far though, the reviews have been positive. As of today (12/13), it’s earned 90% on Rotten Tomatoes with 39 reviews counted, and Cinematical also compiled some reactions coming from Twitter that’s also generally positive. For me, this is the kind of movie that would defy the critics. I will go see it regardless what they say. I liked what I saw on Avatar Day, and though I’ve resisted posting anything on the movie since the full trailer was released in October, I’m pretty darn excited to finally see this!

I’ve also resisted seeing any more movie clips as not to spoil the experience,  but I did check out this interview with the star Sam Worthington on making the film. It makes me respect Jim Cameron even more and hope his hard work pays off.

No doubt Worthington is on the brink of stardom and pretty soon lots of people (including journalists!) will know his name. Just earlier this week, Yahoo news printed his name as STEVE instead of Sam (see below). Tsk, tsk, tsk, I know he’s not a household name yet but come on, with all the hype around Avatar, you’d think they’d get the lead actor’s name right. In any case, I have not seen enough of his work to judge his acting ability, but one thing I can say is he reminds me a lot of fellow Aussie Russell Crowe in that he’s a no-nonsense dude who works hard professionally, but personally doesn’t care about being a ‘likable’ force in Tinseltown. If he plays his cards right — and makes the most of all the roles given to him — he just might be Hollywood’s hottest import working today.

Anyhoo, come Friday, you’ll find me & my hubby at the IMAX to see Avatar in its 3D glory. So, how about you, folks? Are you going to see this movie?